Anyone else's snakes make funny noises during a shedding cycle?

[benjamind2010]

Two of my womas make intermittent whistling and gasping sounds during a shed cycle. I know my big male (Isaiah) does it, he's doing it now, and during her last shed, my female Irene (sister to Israel, who I got off Dickyknee) did that during her last shed and is now in shed again and doing the same thing.

Does anyone really know what causes this? I know it isn't stress induced, although it certainly can be and that's why I always strongly advise against handling snakes that are on shed.

I'm assuming (most likely to be correct here) that it's because the skin in their nasal cavities is compressing the airways and sometimes blocking or otherwise causing audible phenomena especially when the snake breathes more heavily than usual. It's only intermittent, and I am almost certain it's not an RI otherwise I'd see other signs, and there appear to be none.

Just the funny noises. Seriously, this would totally freak out many inexperienced keepers, some to the point where they'd be thinking about a vet I know these womas very well, so I am chalking it up to this particular airway compression theory. The only way I will be able to tell will be once they've shed and they've removed the old skin from their nasal area.

Anyone else have this happen when their snakes are on shed? I know two of mine do...I know that Israel (the male off Dickyknee) and Isobel (a female I bought early this year) don't do it, just Irene and Isaiah.

 

[jonez]

Ive read alot of threads on this and id be puttin it down to loose skin near there nasal cavities.

 

[serpenttongue]

Anyone else have this happen when their snakes are on shed?

No, it's just your snakes!

But seriously, yes snakes will make a few wheezing/whistling noises when they are in the milky stage of shedding. This would be due to the nostrils being a bit clogged with the shedding oils building up under the skin in the nostrils. This tends to happen more in some species than others. GTP's can have their snout swell up quite large, and then return to normal due to the fluid build-up during shedding, and I had a spotted python whose jaws would swell up during shedding, only to return to normal after shedding.

Once they shed, the wheezing will be gone.

 

[maddog-1979]

yep, some of my womas sneeze when they are in shed. just itchy nostrils....and they aint got no hands to scratch

i started a thread about it when i first got my womas cos i'd never experienced it before, i got quite a few replies so now i am obviously an expert on the matter

 

[benjamind2010]

Update: Both the womas in question have now shed...no more funny noises...until their next shed cycle.
Strange but true. I got both womas out to handle them and no noises.

If you handle a snake you usually cause a certain amount of stress which can increase their breathing. Snakes never enjoy being held, they merely tolerate it. In the case of an RI handling usually increase the stress and will increase the RI noises too, but in this case there were no noises at all, so it's really only a shedding phenomenon - a strange aerodynamics phenomenon